Regional Flyway Facility

Facilitating sustainable and ecological solutions for people and nature

The Regional Flyway Facility (RFF) is a dynamic organization in a dynamic region. Embedded within BirdLife International, we have a passion for birds and conservation. We inspire our societies to share that passion. People in our region have an innate sense of hospitality and value nature. We channel such values into successful conservation. We don’t just focus on birds and nature; we focus on facilitating sustainable development by offering innovative solutions through dynamic partnership with various sector stakeholders.

The RFF recognise and promote the development and diversification of energy resources as being of fundamental importance to the region, as is the need for a strong agricultural sector and effective waste management. The RFF recognise the importance of sustainable hunting as a cultural interest that engages many people with the natural world. We have great expertise in tourism and see the huge benefits the development of this sector brings to the region.
Yet these resources will only ultimately benefit the region if they are truly sustainable and encompass the protection of migratory birds within their plans and processes. This is where the RFF can work with you.

The RFF acts as the project coordination unit supported by BirdLife’s regional offices in Amman (Jordan) and Nairobi (Kenya) and overseen by the BirdLife International Global Secretariat in Cambridge (United Kingdom).

The RFF team is composed of:

Osama Al Nouri

RFF Coordinator

Osama Al Nouri is a Syrian national, with a Master in Business Administration and with over 25 years of experience in the tourism sector. His passion for nature conservation ultimately led him to found the Syrian Society for the Conservation of Wildlife, currently the BirdLife affiliate in Syria. Since September 2011 he has been RFF Coordinator of the Migratory Soaring Birds project. He is based in the BirdLife Middle East Partnership Secretariat in Amman, Jordan.

Dima Obeidat

Middle East Communications Officer

Dima is responsible for strategic communication planning and outreach to key stakeholders and audiences that we seek to influence with the MSB project. Before joining BirdLife Middle East Secretariat in March 2018, she spent most of her career in the corporate world. She was a senior translator at Deloitte & Touche, where she wrote press-releases, translated and proofread a variety of documents, analytical reports, proposals and manuals. Dima has received a master’s degree in Linguistics from West Virginia University in USA and a bachelor’s in English Language & Literature from Al-AlBayt University in Jordan.

Alex Ngari

Flyway Officer – Africa

Alex Ngari joined the MSB project in 2014 and is based in Nairobi at the BirdLife Africa Secretariat office in Kenya. Alex has vast knowledge in conservation and natural resource management after working in the sector for more than 9 years now. His past experience draws from his extensive work in agro-ecosystems, unprotected and protected important conservation areas engaging with policy formulators, implementers as well as local communities while using birds as flagship taxa to achieve conservation goals. His first degree is in Bachelor of Science, Biological Sciences and Chemistry, while he studied Plant Ecology for his Masters.

Mohammad Zaarour

Middle East Flyway Officer

Mr. Zaarour has substantial experience in development and management of programs/projects with more than 15 years of experience in environmental programs/projects that integrate natural resources protection with socio economic development.. He developed several projects tackling many aspects related to socio economic development with special focus on job creation and women empowerment. He has particularly worked in the West Asia, Middle East, North Africa and Southwest Balkans and well aware of the institutional set up of government and non-government organizations and private sectors and their social, economic and environmental challenges. He was a leader for multidisciplinary projects and teams. He is fully acquainted with the requirements and guidelines of donors and international organization such as the World Bank, UNDP, UNOPS, IFAD, CEPF, EU, Wetland International, Birdlife International, CIDA and others. Through this involvement and cooperation with several environmental management authorities, he has gained extensive skills in institutional development and capacity building, coaching, training and facilitation using participatory interactive approaches.